Dating a Sadist
by Going Batty
Summary: Seymour's feeling under the weather, and Audrey has a date. Audrey's POV.


**Disclaimer**: I own none of these characters, unfortunately.

**Author's Note**: Just enjoy. :)

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Entering the shop and glancing at the counter, I could almost immediately tell that there was something wrong with my co-worker. Seymour was unusually pale- and instead of being his usual perky self, he looked like he was half-asleep; he was even leaning on the counter with his eyelids drooping. But I knew he'd never tell me what was wrong. He loved this job, even though he wasn't the best at working with plants. In fact, I've never seen him miss a day of work. Never. Not once, in the entire three years I've worked with him. So naturally, I was concerned, especially when I laid my hand on top of his own heavily bandaged one and discovered how much warmer than usual his hand was. "Seymour, what's wrong?" I wanted to know. 

As expected, Seymour replied, "N-nothing." But he wasn't fooling me. Just the sound of his voice convinced me something was wrong. Did he really think I was a dumb blonde who cares about nothing other than who's dating which guy? Contrary to popular belief, I'm not an idiot. I mean, sure, I may have dropped out of grade school, but I knew more than most thought I did. So what if most of my knowledge involves how to care for and sell plants?

"Seymour, you don't really expect me to believe you, right?" If he did... then that would be a rather sad fact. It's easy to tell when Seymour's lying. He just sort of looks away, and gets this nervous, sad look on his face. And his voice goes a little higher-pitched than normal.

"Um..." Oh God, he had actually thought I'd fall for his lie? The boy was pathetic. "Actually, I sorta did, well, hope you'd believe it," Seymour confirmed.

"Seymour, I wasn't born yesterday," I said with a sigh. "Tell me what's bothering you. And don't you dare say it's nothing!" I shot him a playful glare.

The man shuddered. Okay, he seriously needs to find a girlfriend or something, if he thought my glare was genuine. I'd be happy to apply for that job! But he replied anyways, quietly, in a shaky voice, "I guess I'm just not feeling too well today."

I then had a sudden thought. Seymour probably came to work even when he was sick- in fact, he was currently confirming my suspicion. "Seymour, how often do you feel like this?" I asked.

The florist shrugged. "I dunno... every once in a while, I think," he said slowly, screwing up his face to try to remember.

The expression on his face- that of extreme concentration- directed my attention to his face. I frowned when I noticed that his short, wavy hair was plastered to his skull, sweat shining on his forehead. He had, of course, tried to hide that by wearing his hat, but he couldn't fool me. This wasn't good, not at all. "Seymour, hold on a minute, I'll be right back." I rushed away without waiting for my friend to reply. "Mister Mushnik! Mister Mushnik!" I called.

My boss turned. "What do you want?" he asked grumpily. I think he might've gotten up on the wrong side of the bed that morning or something. Huh. I don't know why he was being snappish that day.

"Mister Mushnik, Seymour's sick!" I blurted. "He's sweating, and doesn't sound good, he's really warm, and he looks terrible!"

Mushnik groaned. "Great. Now we'll be short on staff! How will we manage to get everything done?" He was eying the customers queuing up in front of the counter, with Seymour working the register, dazed look on his face. Mushnik snorted. "Fine, I guess I can give him the day off," he finally decided- rather reluctantly, I might add.

Okay. So that was settled. "Mister Mushnik, take the register for a few minutes, okay?" I called as I rejoined Seymour. "He said you could have the day off," I informed my co-worker. Turning to the man who had just bought a bouquet of flowers, I asked, "Do you want those wrapped?"

The man shook his head. "Nah, I'll just eat them here," he replied with a grin, biting the bud off of one of the roses he held.

I ignored the man; he was a frequent customer. "Seymour, where do you live? I'll take you home." He really shouldn't stay in a busy place like this. He'd just try to help out and make whatever he has even worse.

"Uh... Here?" my friend replied. Wow. He must be worse than I thought. He only WORKED here, he didn't live here!

"Um, Seymour, this is the shop. Seriously, where do you live?" I decided to badger him until he told me the truth.

"I told you, I live here!" Seymour insisted. "Mushnik lets me sleep under the counter." Whoa. That was not the response I expected. But I could tell Seymour was telling the truth. I mean, the only reason why I could afford an apartment was because my boyfriend helped, by paying me a little after each date. I insisted that he didn't have to, but he did anyways. I guess he just didn't want me out on the streets with strange men stealing me away from him or something.

I thought for a moment. No, it's not a difficult task for me, thanks for asking. Seriously, not all blondes are dumb. "Um... then you can come to my place," I decided. He'd be left alone there, without a myriad of customers walking in and out. "Come on, Mushnik'll take the register for a few moments." I seized Seymour by the arm.

"O-okay," the botanist said slowly, leaning against me as I half-dragged him out of the shop. Either Seymour weighs a lot more than I thought, or guys are stronger than they look. Jeez, it's guys like my boyfriend that make dragging people look really easy! I don't get why men can carry- or drag- people with seemingly no effort at all! Huh. I shook the thought from my mind as I carefully led Seymour across the street, guiding him up the steps to my apartment and opening the door to the building. I didn't have much farther to walk before stopping at the first door on the left, pulling out my key and unlocking it. I pushed Seymour into the room ahead of me, and led him to the bed. "Lie down," I ordered, crossing the room and pulling my smallish closet open. I turned around, holding an old, worn-out blanket. "Sorry, but this is the best I got," I said apologetically as I gently covered Seymour with the blanket, now walking to the window and pulling the blinds closed so the room would be dim, and my friend could rest. "I'll be back in a little while to check up on you, okay?" I told him as I headed for the door.

"Don't leave..." Seymour whimpered, giving me a sad face, even sticking his lower lip out in a pout. Damn that man, he knows I can't resist that face!

I sighed. "Seymour, you know I have to work." However, I walked back to my friend. "You forgot to take these off, silly!" I hissed as I removed his glasses, carefully placing them on the rickety old nightstand. "I promise I'll be back, okay?" With that, I gave Seymour a quick peck on the cheek and quickly walked out of my apartment. I could feel my face heating up as a blush spread across my cheeks. What had possessed me to do that? Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind giving Seymour a kiss. But if my boyfriend found out... he'd be upset. No, worse than upset. I shuddered at the thought as I crossed the street.

Mushnik watched me walk back into the shop. "Took you long enough," he grumbled.

"Hi Mister Mushnik!" I replied cheerfully, smiling as I took my place behind the counter again. My boss rolled his eyes, but couldn't help smiling. I guess he just couldn't stay mad at me or something. Maybe he just didn't want me to quit. Whatever it was, he stopped glaring at me.

Hours later, I was permitted to take a lunch break. "Be back in fifteen minutes," Mushnik ordered after the last customer left. He quickly flipped over the sign on the door, so it read "Be back in fifteen minutes". He would take his lunch break at the same time as I did.

I simply nodded, and walked out of the shop. I wasn't going to have lunch that day for two reasons. First, I was worried about Seymour. I hoped he was feeling better because work was actually quite boring without him being his usual clumsy self, or him cracking dumb jokes that I can't help but smile at. And second, my boyfriend wanted me to lose weight. So that's what I was doing. Seymour disagreed with Orin, saying I was thin enough already. But what Orin wants, Orin gets. So even if Seymour protested that it wasn't right for me to weigh what I did, I'd ignore that. If it made Orin happy, I'd do it.

Shaking that thought out of my head, I unlocked my apartment as quietly as I could and peered into the dimmed room. I smiled a little at the sight of Seymour fast asleep. Wow. He was cute. No! Stop it Audrey! I mentally slapped myself. Orin would get mad if I even thought about Seymour outside of work. You know, it actually seems like Orin gets angry a lot nowadays. It's probably just his work; he gets frustrating patients sometimes. Oh, Orin's a dentist, if you didn't know. The only dentist within a ten-mile radius of Skid Row. That still surprises me. He could easily live anywhere he wanted to; he can definitely afford it. I guess he just likes it here in this dump. I just stood there and watched Seymour for a while, then turned around and walked out, closing the door softly as I exited and walked back to work.

Once inside, Mushnik glanced up from the paper he had been reading, and gave an exasperated sigh. "Audrey, don't listen to that boyfriend of yours, you need to eat something."

"Oh no, I'm not hungry," I lied. Truth was, I was starving. But I seriously didn't want to upset Orin. Mushnik simply made a face in reply, but opened the shop up again. Customers almost immediately poured in, and we were busy. Busy enough, in fact, that I completely forgot about Seymour until Mushnik herded the last few remaining customers out of the shop, telling them to come back the next day. Wow. It was six o'clock already? Where did the time go?

Moments later, I heard the sound of maniacal laughter. Mushnik obviously heard it too, for he sighed and said, "Let me guess- you have a date tonight?"

I nodded. "Oh, yes. It's our anniversary." But I was terrified as I heard my boyfriend's motorcycle screech to a stop. There was a moment of silence, then a high-pitched giggle as loud footsteps raced towards the back door. Orin slammed into the door, causing it to burst open. One look at his face told me that he had just had a bad day at work. My boyfriend's face was twisted into a gargoyle-like expression of displeasure as he glared at me. Oh God, that Denton guy must've showed up again. Or maybe it was Wilbur Force... He hated those masochists.

"Audrey, come here. Now," Orin snapped, zipping his leather jacket up to hide the bloodstained dentist uniform he wore. I had noticed that the blood was fresh, so he must've spattered some on himself while working on his last patient of the day. "MOVE IT!" he roared.

I flinched, then glanced at Mushnik. "See you tomorrow, Mister Mushnik," I said quickly as I practically ran to Orin. He terrified me, but he wasn't usually like this. He was usually at least halfway pleasant. I guess both masochists showed up today or something.

"Jesus Christ, you ditzy blonde, how long does it take to CLOSE UP THE GODDAMN SHOP!?" Orin wasn't known for being patient. He roughly grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out into the alley. "Get on the motorcycle, GET ON IT NOW!"

"Y-yes Doctor!" I gasped as I climbed up onto the motorcycle, behind Orin. I wrapped my arms around his waist. My boyfriend always ignored any speed limit signs he passed, so I usually had to hang on for dear life.

"You'd better have Viagra," Orin grumbled as he revved the engine, tires squealing as he sped out of the alley, making a tight U-turn and speeding back towards my apartment. I swear he's trying to kill me with that motorcycle.

But then I remembered Seymour. "Um, Orin, let's not go back to my place," I said nervously.

Orin glared over his shoulder. "And why not!?" he asked, eyes narrowing.

"Orin, WATCH OUT!" My boyfriend swerved aside at the last minute. He had been about to hit a parked car as he was passing my apartment.

"How many times do I hafta tell ya, no backseat driving!" Orin snarled at me, but turned his attention back to the road. "Answer my question."

I told him the truth; he was too furious for a lie, and he'd find out anyways. "Um, Seymour's in there."

"WHAT!?"

I quickly explained. "You see, he wasn't feeling that great today, and he had nowhere to stay, so I let him borrow my apartment for a few hours."

I was nearly thrown off the vehicle as Orin slammed on the brakes. Once the motorcycle had stopped rolling, he whirled around to face me. "I DON'T HELP PAY FOR THAT APARTMENT SO YOU COULD HIDE OTHER MEN IN THERE!" he screamed, face reddening with fury.

"S-sorry Doc-" My words were cut off suddenly as I noticed his fist, but it was too late. Pain flared in the area of my left eye. I would've been knocked backwards by the force of the blow, if Orin hadn't been holding onto me as tightly as he could. I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out. He hated it when I screamed with pain. He just didn't like attracting attention. I forced my open, blinking rapidly to try to clear the vision in my left eye. It was rather watery, but yours would be too, if you were punched by Orin. I know for a fact that he has a few weights lying around his place, and he worked out, not to mention the fact that he had to often chase his patients around to catch them and begin working on their teeth.

"Were you thinking I wouldn't find out? WERE YOU!?" Orin continued, grey eyes wild as he growled softly. He shoved me off of his vehicle as hard as he could, then started the engine of his motorcycle again, quickly throwing it into reverse and speeding backwards. Pain flared throughout my body as I suddenly found myself on the ground, vision in my good eye blackening around the edges. I don't know what else happened that night, but I'm sure that I passed out.

Light shone through my eyelids, and I opened my right eye, my left having swollen shut. I blinked, staring up at the sky and wondering why I was obviously outside, and wondering if I was late for work, when my thoughts were interrupted by a voice. "So, you're awake."

A second voice added, "Took you long enough." I knew these voices. But where was the third...?

"That boyfriend of yours did that to you, right?" a third voice asked. I knew them. Crystal, Ronette, Chiffon, and I often talked.

"What happened?" I asked, wincing. Even speaking hurt. I couldn't gather the energy to sit up and look at myself. It was even an effort to turn my head towards the trio of street urchins, but I did that anyways.

Chiffon shrugged. "Dunno. We just got here a few minutes ago, watched to see if you'd wake."

"Thought you died for a minute there," Ronette added with a nod.

Crystal was silent for a moment, then turned. "I'll be right back, I'll tell them why you're late." Before I could ask who "they" were, the girl was gone. So I sighed and stared back up at the sky.

A few moments later, I found myself face-to-face with Seymour, who was obviously feeling much better than he had yesterday. There was a look on concern on his face, which matched the one on Mushnik's when my boss showed up a moment later. "What happened?" my florist friend asked.

"Dunno, probably Orin," I said slowly. Wow, that hurt. I don't think I've ever hurt this badly in my entire life. Orin must've been delighted when he saw whatever he had done to me.

"Seriously Audrey, he's not a nice boy," Mushnik told me. But he knew as well as I did that dumping the dentist would cause pain much like this.

I made no reply, but flinched when Seymour gently lifted me. A wave of pain washed over me, and I blacked out again. When I woke, I found myself in my apartment- in my bed, in fact- with Seymour beside me. "Mushnik's fetching a doctor," he told me. So, in other words, my boss would be gone for a few hours. There were no doctors on Skid Row; they all lived in the city. My friend and co-worker leaned close to me, and gave me a small kiss on the forehead, grinning embarrassedly as he looked away. It was obvious that he liked me. I had seen that look when we had first met. I knew Seymour would always be there for me, whenever I needed his help. So, with a smile, I thanked him for staying with me and closed my good eye, to rest until Mushnik and a doctor arrived.

You know, I haven't seen Orin since that night. Police say he's disappeared. And Seymour's grown awfully jumpy during the past few days, like he did something he know he shouldn't have. Maybe he's just worried that Orin will show up again. Police also say my boyfriend could be dead. I doubt it. It would take a lot to kill that sadist. I think he just found another town to live in, probably one far from Skid Row, a much nicer place. So, until he shows up again, I finally don't have to worry about him finding out how much I like Seymour.


End file.
